Are you a reader? Whatever the answer, 2026 maybe the year you start to be as it has been designated the National Year of Reading. This UK-wide campaign has been designed to inspire more people to make reading a regular part of their lives. We are all being encouraged to ‘Go All In’ and take some time to read as it can expand worlds, sharpen minds and fuel creativity.
We’re hoping this blog could help you to ‘Go All In’ by exploring books linked to Dundee. All titles are set in the city, or created by authors with experience of living here, so might provide the inspiration to start you reading. Goodreads has a selection of over 200 titles set in the city. A selection of these are available physically and electronically in the library collections.
TARTAN NOIR
I was surprised to find out how much crime fiction has been set in the city, across different time periods: Malcolm Archibold’s Sergeant Watters is set in the 19th century, and provides an insight into the history of the city and it’s people. R.D. McLean’s The Friday Girl Detective Burnett is working in 1970s Dundee. Russel McLean studied and worked in Dundee and at the end of the story writes about how he wanted to present Dundee using the history and character of the city in a way that feels ‘accurate and fair’. Hania Allen’s books featuring DS Dania Gorska are set in the mid-2010s. She is working in Dundee’s specialist crime division, and experiencing the city for the first time after being relocated from London. Dundee is an established location for Tartan Noir, but on reading some of the crime fiction you may have to decide if the city and it’s people have been captured accurately in the pages of a book.
MORE THAN A CITY OF CRIME
Not everything about the stories relating to Dundee are of a criminal nature; the city’s location on the Firth of Tay has inspired meanderings, art, poetry, music and even a best-selling book on seasonal soups by Fraser Reid who is the owner of Fraser’s Fruit & Veg on Perth Road. Some authors have also taken the University of Dundee as the setting of their works or have characters studying and working at the University. Kate Aitkinson’s Emotionally Weird tells the story of Effie and the relationships she develops at University. The student lifestyle and academic rivalries reflect a different University experience when you could submit an essay by hand and marking deadlines seemed less strict, but the Tower Building remains a constant of Dundee University life.
If you want to use your reading time to learn a little more about Dundee there is a range of non-fiction available in the leisure reading and main collection of the library, or you can browse historical material relating to the city in the archives. The collection incorporates education, culture, environmental and business history, medicine and health. The archives have a copy of the poem by William McGonagall written in celebration of the inauguration of University College, Dundee (the predecessor to the University of Dundee) in October 1883.
McGonagall, it has been suggested, may be a “bad poet,” but ‘Bonnie Dundee’ continues to inspire poetry and the Library contains books such as THIS, Tay Poems by Jim Stewart, Pure Dundee by Gary Robertson and Whaleback city : the poetry of Dundee and its hinterland edited by Bill Herbert and Andy Jackson. These examples would suggest that Dundonian poetry is so much more than the work of McGonagall.
If I had to select a favourite book The History of the Beano: the story so far would be a contender, as I associate Dundee with the comic and enjoyed reading it when growing up. I still enjoy the simplicity of the comic, it’s storytelling and most importantly for me it made reading fun.
MORE BOOKS
If you want your reading to take you to a world beyond Dundee and think of a title that we could add to our collections, please send us an email to morebooks@dundee.ac.uk.
Hope you find some time to read in 2026 and beyond. Go All In and read about what you enjoy.
